It’s been a while since I’ve done a post about music. A few years ago, I used to do one once a week. They were called My Weekly Soundtrack, and in them I’d put the links to YouTube videos of songs that had been stuck in my head at some point during that week. A few of you were fans of this series of posts, but after taking a break from blogging a while back, I never revived the idea.

For those of you who are hoping that this post will be that revival, it’s not.

It might be fun to start up that series again, but I doubt that I’d keep up with it for very long. There’s no point in going on with it if I’m just going to drop it again soon.

So, what I’m going to do instead is review a few albums, that have released within the last year or so, by bands that I have followed for a while. Up first is the one I liked the least.

Ember by Breaking Benjamin was a big disappointment to me. Up until this album, I’ve pretty much liked everything they’ve ever done. On this one, not so much.

Don’t get me wrong. There are a couple of good songs on it. Red Cold River isn’t bad. But, overall, it just really wasn’t that good to me. Listening to it, I felt like they were going out of their way to not sound like Breaking Benjamin anymore.

The next CD is the newest on, Evolution by Disturbed. I haven’t listened to this one as much as the others. I try to give an album a few listens before I render judgment and I might need to listen to this one at least one more time before coming to a final conclusion. I’m kinda on the fence about it.

On one hand, there are a number of regular Disturbed-type songs, and they’re good. On the other, there are a couple of songs in the same style as Sound of Silence. I mean, the melodies were different. The lyrics were different, but all I kept hearing was, “Hello, darkness, my old friend.” I’m not sure what to do with that.

The last of the albums is the one that I thought I’d like the least, but, in my mind anyway, ended up being the best of the bunch: When Legends Rise by Godsmack.

Godsmack’s previous album, 1000hp, was not very good in my opinion. So, when this one released, I wasn’t expecting much, but I was blown away by how much I enjoyed it. Most of the songs are very catchy and infectious, but still have a good dose of kickass to them. Their first single, Bulletproof, is a good example of that.

There’s not really a bad song on this album. Sure, there’s a couple teetering on the border between decent and good, but there aren’t any that are bad. I can’t think of many albums that have no bad songs on them and this is one of them.

I was randomly going through my music the other night and I came across this song. I had totally forgotten all about it. After listening to it, I was very disappointed in myself. It is too awesome of a song for me to have forgotten it.

To anyone who has ever asked me, I have always said that my favorite song is Gone Away by The Offspring. Most people who know the song give me a weird look after I say that. Not because they think it’s a bad song, but because it’s a very sad song. I think the reason I connect with this song so well is because every time I hear it, it makes me think of someone.

Back when I was in high school, I lost my aunt (my father’s sister) to breast cancer. She had been fighting it for a while. She’d had a double mastectomy years before, but it wasn’t enough to keep it from coming back. The doctors did all they could, but it wasn’t enough. The last time I saw her, she was bed ridden. She was almost unrecognizable to me. There were a couple of times when I wanted to walk out of the room because I couldn’t stand seeing her that way.

Our visit ended and we drove the three or four hours back home. Two days later, we got the call. I was at work (a cashier at a local hardware store) at the time. I got called into the back to take a phone call. I remember thinking that it was odd because they were very strict about employees receiving phone calls. It was my Dad. He only had to speak the first word for me to know what happened. I could tell from his voice. To this day, I’m still not sure what he said. I immediately broke down into tears.

I was pretty much numb throughout the funeral process. Much like not remembering my father’s words, a lot of what happened during this time is a blur for me. My aunt was one of the most amazing women I had ever met. She was smart, funny, and kind to everyone. Not one person who ever met her had a bad thing to say about her. Especially after seeing her right before it happened, it hit me pretty hard.

About a year later, this song came out. I was instantly mesmerized by it. I listened to it over and over again. The more I heard it, the more I associated it with my aunt. When he sang the line “And if I could trade, I would” there were times back then that I actually felt that way.

I’d think, “Here was a woman who was a wife, mother, and grandmother. She was loved by so many people. I’m just a dumb kid. Maybe it would be better if it were me instead of her.”

As time went on, I felt less and less like I should trade places. However, my love for this song has never waivered. Not only is it the song that touches me the most, but it is a reminder of the brave woman who was taken from the world too soon.

I love you, my aunt. I know I’ll never live up to you, but I hope that you’re proud of who I’ve become.

I have a playlist in my car that hovers around 700 songs. It takes me about 30 minutes to get to or from work every day (if there’s no traffic….which there usually is), so having music in my car is a must. I also have to have a variety, hence the 700 songs. I’ll just start my car, hit the random button, and hit play. Most of the time, it’ll give me a good mix of songs.

A few days ago, however, it randomly picked 3 songs from Metallica’s Black Album to play back to back. It started with The Unforgiven, then Sad But True, and finished with Through the Never.

Once the final song began playing, a thought occurred to me, and that thought was “For the past 20-something years (25 to be exact as I just Googled it), this song has gotten the short end of the stick.”

When you think of Metallica songs, which one is the first one that pops into your head? If you’re anything like me, it’s Master of Puppets. Start thinking about other ones. Is Through the Never in the top 5? Top 10? Top 20? Hell, I’d be willing to bet that most people wouldn’t have it in their top 5 from the Black Album. Most people would probably name the other two I’ve already mentioned plus Enter Sandman, Wherever I May Roam, and Nothing Else Matters.

To me, that’s a shame.

Now, I will admit that The Unforgiven is my favorite song on that album, but Through the Never is easily the second. And, the more I think about it, it kind of bothers me that it doesn’t get the love it deserves.

I may not change anyone’s mind with this post, but I hope you all at least give it a listen. It’s an awesome song.

Yesterday, at work, I was doing my normal thing. I was boxing up radios and shipping them off to idiotic car dealerships all over this nation. During most of that time, however, I was also contemplating cutting my ears off. For the last four or five hours I was there, they were being cruelly, and unusually, punished.

The tech room where they repair the radios is right next to the shipping room. Normally, the techs wear headphones when they test play the music. For some reason, yesterday they didn’t.

I can’t really blame the techs. They don’t choose the CDs that they use. They’re supplied by the company that manufactures the radios. So, I will be blaming those assholes because I had to put up with the most horrible music imaginable for over half a work day.

There were many things wrong with the music. One, it was a Celine Dion song. Two, it was the Titanic song. Three, IT WAS THE FUCKING CELINE DION TITANIC SONG FOR HOURS ON END!!!!!!!!!!!!

The only good part of it was that it was an instrumental version, which means I didn’t have to hear her voice. Unfortunately, it was a weird instrumental version. It didn’t sound like any instrument I had ever heard before. It sounded like a violin crossed with bagpipes.

It was 33 grams of torture. I might have to start taking ear plugs into work with me from now on….